Pam Purvis and Bob Ackerman will take the stage in Nashua this weekend for a benefit jazz concert at the Nashua Community Music School. (COURTESY)

Mural Music

Concert to raise money for Nashua's West Pearl Street Mural Project

By KIMBERLY HOUGHTONUnion Leader Correspondent

NASHUA — A benefit concert has been planned for this weekend to help raise money for the West Pearl Street Mural Project.

City Arts Nashua is hosting the jazz concert on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Nashua Community Music School at 5 Pine St. Ext.

Proceeds from the concert, titled "Old, New and Sometimes Blue, But Always Jazz," will benefit a historic mural project that will eventually be displayed behind the parking lot of TD Bank on the corner of Main and West Pearl streets.

The public art project, to be painted by Nashua mural artist Barbara Andrews, will depict a view of West Pearl Street from 1909.The colored mural, named "Vivian's Dream," will stand about 40 feet by 35 feet. It is designed to enhance downtown Nashua by offering residents, businesses, restaurant patrons, shoppers and visitors a historic public art experience, according to a release.

The jazz concert will include performances by Pam Purvis, Bob Ackerman and Tim Maynard.

"We are delighted that Pam and Bob have donated their time and wonderful talents, coming to Nashua from the New Jersey/New York area, to help us bring a significant piece of public art to downtown," said Marjorie Bollinger Hogan, president of City Arts Nashua.

Purvis sings and plays keyboard, while her husband, Ackerman, plays piano, saxophone, clarinet and flute. Maynard is a percussionist from Massachusetts.

Purvis and Ackerman have eight recordings, and have performed all over the nation, in Europe and Mexico, according to a release.

"We want our music to swing and get you moving, but we are also interested in the subtleties of color, harmony and nuance," Purvis said in a statement. "I want you to see and feel the images in the song. I come from a part of the country where there is a lot of color and energy. I hope you'll find these things in my singing."

The concert is being sponsored by Nashua Community Music School, Nashua Radisson Hotel and Darrell's Music Hall.

Tickets are available at the door for $15, and $10 for seniors and students. The doors will open at 7 p.m., and the concert will begin at 7:30 p.m.

City Arts Nashua is a nonprofit organization that promotes arts and culture in the Greater Nashua area.